Kukla's Korner Hockey

Category: New-York-Islanders

Thanks to a very kind offer of support from my employers at FanHouse, Point Blank will be in business for another year. My deepest gratitude goes to my editors at FanHouse, and especially the PB reader/AOL executive who introduced my work to the sports department.

Thanks also go to Chris Dey of the Islanders for creating this venture, Islanders players and coaches for their accessibility and cooperation and, of course, to the readers who keep on coming back to Point Blank.

First and foremost, Rick DiPietro absolutely did not decline to be a part of last night’s introduction ceremony.

Essentially, it was an oversight and here’s what Islanders President Chris Dey had to say on the matter:

“We made a mistake and left Rick out of the introductions. It was nothing intentional, but we are glad to hear that fans wanted to hear him introduced by the team,” Dey said. “We are all looking forward to his return to the lineup.”

They were gone, plain and simple. One of the best NHL teams of the last 30 years was packed up and ready to leave its only home, frustrated by the politics of trying to get a new arena.

“It is time to take control of our own destiny,” the team’s owner said at the time. “We will begin to explore options in cities outside Pennsylvania.”

Mario Lemieux spoke those words a little less than three years ago.

If there’s still hope for the Islanders to stay on Long Island, to stay on the spot of land they’ve occupied for 35 years, the Penguins, last night’s opponent, could serve as the best example of that hope.

Wang is slated to meet with town Supervisor Kate Murray early next week after the latter phoned the Isles’ owner on Friday afternoon. Clearly, when the two sit down, Wang will express his displeasure with the lack of movement from the town board. He’ll also deliver a message to Murray face-to-face.

“No more games,” a disappointed Wang said on Saturday night at the Coliseum, where his Islanders opened the 2009-10 season against the Pittsburgh Penguins. “I want a yes or a no. Tell me what you want, then I can tell you if I can or can not do it. Two years have gone by … we’re going to meet now?”

It’s certainly disheartening news for Islanders fans who have voiced their support for a project that has been in the works for several years. County Executive Tom Suozzi, who dropped the puck at center ice on Saturday night, is dumbfounded by the lack of movement on Hempstead’s part, as well as Murray’s phone call to Wang on Friday.

“Next week he should be able to ramp up his workouts on the ice,” Gordon said after the team worked out in Syosset yesterday. “It’s working on more technique. Everything is pretty controlled right now, the next step is to make it more game-like . . . moving off passes, multiple shots, recoveries, everything that would come up in the course of a normal practice, but do it in a controlled environment.”

DiPietro is trying to be patient.

“I’m obviously frustrated,” the goalie said. “I’d like to be on the ice right now, skating with the team and have a regular training camp and not have to worry about being injured and rehab every day. But this is part of the bigger picture.”

“It was something Scott [Gordon] and I talked about yesterday when he was put on waivers,” Islanders general manager Garth Snow said. “For us it’s a situation where we can give a highly-skilled player with great vision on the ice a new opportunity. It’ll be a good change in scenery for him.”

Said Scott Gordon: “He’s got incredible skill.”

“He has the opportunity of a second chance. What he does with it is in his hands.”

Five years after announcing the 150-acre Lighthouse Project, Wang still hasn’t seen a shovel in the ground. The scheme would include a new arena, commercial and residential development including a canal and all kinds of goodies, so naturally there are multiple layers of bureaucracy and politics to wade through, just as there would be in the GTA if such a plan were ever proposed.

Wang has complained the process is taking far too long, which is why he has set an unofficial deadline, and why local politicos are balking.

“We don’t tell them when they have to bring in a Stanley Cup,” said one town official quoted in Newsday.

That’s nasty. The once-great Isles have a lease at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum until 2015, but we already know from Phoenix the NHL doesn’t much worry about that stuff.

So into this maelstrom of insolvency and uncertainty goes Tavares. Stamkos had to deal with a lot of on-ice and off-ice issues in Tampa last season and survived, so theoretically so can Tavares.

It won’t be easy. But it helps that not as many people are watching the Islanders as once did.

Although most of the questioning was polite, the developers - New York Islanders owner Charles Wang and developer Scott Rechler - appeared frustrated and at times ill-prepared for the questions about traffic, height of buildings and whether the developers would sell off parts of the project.

Town board members repeatedly asked for specific commitments, but the developers declined to make them. Instead, they extolled what they say are the project’s virtues - creating jobs, serving as a magnet for new industry and keeping young people on Long Island.